A loud whistle echoed in my ears and my arms shook as the gun was fired. 

—¡¿What do you think you're doing?!— The woman yelled. 

Slowly and fearfully of what I might see, I opened my eyes. I was afraid to see what I had done to Liam's clone and not bear it, I repeated over and over in my mind that that thing was not my Liam but a monster. 

But for better or worse, in front of me was the clone, completely intact. 

—¿What?—A shaky sigh escaped my lips. 

—¡How dare you try to hurt one of my babies!— The lizard woman showed her sharp teeth, completely furious. —¡Stupid human, you'll regret what you did!

The fake Liam threw himself at me, knocking me to the ground. Because of the shock, I ended up dropping the gun, leaving it too far out of my reach. Big hands wrapped around my neck, suffocating me. 

Instinctively I put my hands on his arms in a pathetic attempt to push him away from me. The weight of his body prevented me from moving a single centimeter and I felt panic slowly overtake me as I felt the lack of oxygen. 

–Pathetic human, did you really think you would be able to defeat me? – She approached, threateningly. –You are no match for me, a sin like me cannot be defeated by a being as insignificant as you. 

«¿Sin?»

– I wanted to have a little more fun with you since you are unusual, but you dared to attack my baby and now he is furious. — She smiled sinisterly. — But don't worry, we won't waste anything. Thanks for the food. 

«¿'Food... are they going to eat me?»

My lungs burned, desperately demanding oxygen and the desperation of not being able to breathe invaded me making me cry in helplessness. When small black specks began to appear in my field of vision I knew that the moment had arrived.

«'Is this it? Is this as far as I could go? How frustrating. I'm sorry Liam... I'm sorry you have a sister as useless as me» I said goodbye to my brother in my mind.

My hands fell to my sides as my body lost all its remaining strength. Before everything went black I heard voices and heavy sounds in the distance. The lizard seemed startled however I couldn't see her expression as my poor vision was blurry.

Suddenly, the woman disappeared, as if she had been attacked and then I heard a horrendous shriek. Something went through the body of the fake Liam and when they pulled him out, wet drops fell on me. Someone pulled him away from me and once on the ground they finished stabbing him. The blurred faces of several people stared at me as I fainted.

—¿Is she still alive?

—It seems so.

–¿Did she survive a sin’s attack? Impressive.

– Let's take her to the lab, she could be useful.

The voices began to move further and further away until finally my mind disconnected and I was submerged in a cold darkness.

A rhythmic sound was the first thing I heard. The next thing I perceived was the heaviness of my body. I had to make a great effort just to be able to lift my eyelids.

When my vision cleared I could see that I was lying on a bed and that I was connected to a pulse monitor and an oxygen machine.

«¿'A... hospital?»

In an upper corner of the neat room, a security camera moved, pointing towards me. Beside my bed and the machinery, there was nothing else in the room. There was no other furniture, not even a couch or chair for the patient's visitors to sit on. Not to mention that the small window in the door had bars.

«No, this is not a hospital.»

The door was opened and a man in a lab coat came in, closing it behind him. 

— Subject 735, it seems you're awake. Good.— He wrote something down on the sheets on his support board.

I opened my mouth to ask what he meant by 'subject' and to find out where I am, but instead of words, the only thing that came out was an unintelligible sound. 

— Don't try it.— He suggested, approaching the bed. — Your throat and vocal cords are very hurt, you won't be able to speak for a while. You're lucky, your evaluation will be postponed until you're stable.

I frowned as best I could to show him that I wasn't understanding anything and to get him to explain himself better, it worked.

— Ah, right, they still haven't explained anything to you, I suppose you want to know where you are. Right now we are in the PAROX facilities

«¿'PAROX?»

— We are an organization that is in charge of researching ways to eradicate monsters. You survived one of the sins, so our leader thinks you could be a good candidate.

The more he talks the more questions I have and that frustrates me, not because I have doubts, but because I can't even talk or ask him anything.

— After your evaluation, we will know if you can be part of the team or not. For now, just focus on recovering, okay? I will come to check on your progress twice a day, you will have people to assist you while you recover.

After that, he excused himself saying that he had more work to do and left.

I really wanted to know what was going on, I wanted to escape from here and go with Liam, however, I knew that wasn't possible at the moment, not while I was in this deplorable state. He's right, as much as it hurts me to admit and accept it, the first thing I have to do is recover, I won't be able to save anyone being like this.

I can only pray for Liam to be safe. 

Tears came out in a cascade due to the helplessness of not being able to go meet him. I apologized to him a thousand times in my mind until tiredness took over me and I fell exhausted.

----------------------------------------------

The woman in the white suit finally disconnects the monitor. Yesterday they took the oxygen and stopped giving me serum, or whatever that transparent bag had. It seems that today it's the monitor's turn to leave.

– E-excuse me miss– I spoke with my barely recovered hoarse voice. —When can I get out of here? I have to go find my brother and...

— The doctor will be here soon to check you up,— she said, not even bothering to listen to what I was saying.

The wheels on the monitor squeaked as the woman dragged it to the door. She placed her ID card on the door handle and then the door opened, revealing two men standing outside the room.

Once she was out, I let out a resigned sigh.

There's no clock, so I don't know exactly how long I've been here. But if my math is correct, I've been here for about four days.

Except for the wound on my shoulder and the one on my ankle, I'm almost completely healed. These people have been taking care of me, they give me three meals a day, there's a clean bathroom, they've treated my wounds, and took care of me like a regular patient in a hospital.

The only thing wrong with this place is that they still haven't told me specifically where I am or given me any more information about what kind of organization it is. They haven't told me this directly, but I know I'm not allowed to leave the room.

Instead of a handle, the doors open automatically when one of the employees uses their ID card on a small panel above the door and it locks automatically, so it seems practically impossible to open it if you don’t have one.

Every time someone comes in, guards come with them and stand guarding the door from the outside, as if to prevent me from escaping. After the nurses or doctor finish their work, they leave with the guards, leaving the door alone. They must trust their security system a lot. And there is no way to escape through the window, since there isn't one, not even in the bathroom.

Sitting on the bed, I put my elbows on my knees and my hands on my face.

«I have to get out of here, there must be a way.».

The worst thing is that I can barely move a finger without the security camera focusing on me. If I openly express my desire to escape, the cameras will pick it up and I'll be in trouble. 

A small thud could be heard from the wall on the right.

— Hey, are you awake?— It was a woman's voice.